1. Who we are

Houston Foreclosure Alerts ("we", "us", "our") operates the website at houstonforeclosurealerts.com and the HFA mobile app and provides a subscription-based Greater Houston real estate data service: mortgage foreclosure filings in Harris, Montgomery, Waller, Galveston, Brazoria and Chambers counties; Harris County tax-delinquent records; and City of Houston code records. For questions about this policy, contact us at josh@houstonforeclosurealerts.com.

2. Information we collect

Account information: name, email address, mobile phone number, phone-verification status, and password (stored as a salted hash) when you register. Your mobile number is required for account security and verification, not marketing texts.

Billing information: we use Stripe to process payments. We do not store your full card number; Stripe stores it. We retain a Stripe customer ID and subscription status.

Usage data: pages viewed, searches run, properties saved, mail campaigns created, skip-trace requests, and similar activity inside the product. We also collect first-party analytics such as page views, button and link clicks, outbound link destinations, referrer, and anonymous visitor/session IDs to understand site performance and improve the service.

Content you create: notes, tags, lists, mail templates, recipient addresses, and any other data you enter.

Mobile location and field records: with your permission, the mobile app uses precise location for maps, property captures, and Driving for Dollars sessions. Route points and captured property coordinates you save are associated with your account. You can deny or revoke location permission in device settings; location-dependent features will then be limited.

Photos: when you choose to capture or select property photos, the app uploads them to our storage provider and associates saved photos with your field records. Offline drafts may remain on your device until they can sync.

Mobile notifications and diagnostics: if you enable notifications, we register a push token associated with your account to deliver app notifications. You can disable notifications in device settings. When crash reporting is enabled, diagnostic reports may include device and app information, error details, recent app actions, and your internal account ID to help us investigate failures.

Cookies and local storage: a session cookie used to keep you logged in, plus anonymous first-party visitor/session IDs stored in browser storage for analytics. We also store your selected lead category, county and ZIP temporarily to carry your preferences through signup, and non-sensitive onboarding progress in your browser. Our analytics and advertising partners listed in Section 5 also set their own cookies and similar identifiers (for example, Google and Meta cookies used for analytics and ad conversion measurement). You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings.

Sign-up opened from the mobile app: we disable Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta Pixel, Crazy Egg, and Microsoft Clarity for these in-app browser sessions. A first-party session flag preserves that choice while you navigate or complete registration. First-party service analytics described above continue to operate.

Site analytics and session replay: we use Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, and Microsoft Clarity to understand how visitors use the public site — pages viewed, clicks, scrolling, device and browser type, and approximate location (country/region). Crazy Egg may also record replays of browsing sessions and display short optional surveys. For logged-in users, sessions are tagged with an internal numeric account ID (never your name or email) so we can investigate support issues. You can learn more in Crazy Egg's privacy policy and Microsoft's privacy statement.

3. Property and ownership data

The property records, ownership information, tax delinquency status, code violation history, and foreclosure auction listings shown in the product are sourced from public records published by the covered counties, the City of Houston, and relevant public appraisal and tax authorities. This data is public information; we aggregate, normalize, and present it for investor use.

4. How we use your information

To provide, maintain, and improve the service.
To understand which pages, calls to action, and outbound links help or hurt conversion.
To process subscription billing through Stripe.
To send transactional emails (account verification, receipts, password resets, mail-piece status notifications, daily property alert digests if enabled).
To send your direct mail through Lob, our print/mail vendor, when you create a campaign.
To enrich property records with additional data via vendors such as Tracerfy (skip tracing) and RentCast (comparable sales) at your explicit request and at the per-request prices shown in the product.
To detect fraud, abuse, and violations of our Terms of Service.
To comply with legal obligations.

5. Third parties we share data with

We share the minimum data necessary with the following service providers:

Cloudflare R2 — storage of uploaded property photos.
Expo and platform notification services — delivery of mobile push notifications when enabled.
Sentry — mobile error and crash diagnostics when crash reporting is enabled.
Stripe — payment processing.
Lob — printing and mailing your direct mail pieces (recipient and return addresses).
Tracerfy — skip tracing on subjects you choose to look up.
RentCast — comparable sales reports on subjects you choose to look up.
Resend — transactional email delivery.
Twilio Verify — mobile-number security verification, including sending and checking verification codes.
Google Maps — maps, supported geocoding, and Street View. The Android Maps SDK also collects device and request metadata, crash metrics, IP addresses, a Maps-specific pseudonymous identifier, and map interaction events to maintain and improve Google services.
OpenStreetMap Nominatim — reverse geocoding for map and Driving for Dollars features. When these features look up an address, the selected coordinates are sent to this service.
Mapbox — geocoding address searches when that provider is used.
CARTO — map tiles for the interactive map.
Google Analytics & Google Ads — site analytics and measurement of ad campaign conversions (for example, signups attributed to an ad click).
Meta (Facebook) Pixel — measurement of ad campaign conversions from Meta platforms.
Crazy Egg — heatmaps, session replay, and on-site surveys, as described in Section 2.

We do not sell your personal information. Data shared with the advertising and analytics tools above is limited to site interaction and conversion events used to measure and improve our own marketing; we do not provide your account details to ad networks for their independent use.

6. Account deletion and data retention

To request deletion of your HFA - Foreclosure Alerts account and associated personal data without installing the app, email josh@houstonforeclosurealerts.com from your registered email address with the subject “HFA account deletion request.” We may verify that you own the account. Do not include your password. This request covers your account profile and saved personal content, including notes, lists, property photos, and field records.

We retain account information for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward to comply with tax and legal obligations. In the mobile app, open More → Delete Account to submit an authenticated deletion request, including when your subscription is inactive. You can also contact us by email. We process verified requests within 30 days, cancel any linked HFA subscription before completing deletion, and email confirmation when your account and associated personal data have been deleted. Retention required by law, such as certain billing records, is an exception. The request screen displays the expected completion date. Deletion is processed manually; requesting it does not immediately delete the account or stop billing. You can separately use Subscription & Billing to stop renewal sooner.

7. Your rights

You can access, correct, or delete your personal information by signing in to your account or by emailing us. Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have additional rights under laws such as the CCPA or GDPR; contact us to exercise them.

8. Security

We use industry-standard measures to protect your data: TLS in transit, encryption at rest for backups, salted password hashing, and least-privilege access controls. No system is perfectly secure, but we work continuously to maintain a strong posture.

9. Children's privacy

The service is intended for adults 18 and over and is not directed at children under 13.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email or by a notice in the product. Continued use of the service after the effective date of any update constitutes acceptance.